5 Times Shego Saved the Day
by C. E. Gray
Summary: Another tumblr prompt, this one from AskShegoGo. There are a few parts that are kind of dark, but I promise it ends on a happier note.
1. Chapter 1

Shego crouched low to duck Kim's kick, springing upwards with a surge of strength, flipping over the redhead and landing behind her easily, bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready for Kim's response. The girl didn't hesitate, looking over her shoulder to where Shego had landed, trying a back leg sweep which Shego leapt over easily enough, then closing the distance and trading punches.

Kim lunged forward, grasping the fabric of Shego's outfit and shoving her back, but the villainess kept rolling with the momentum, breaking Kim's grip and throwing the girl over her head. Drakken and Ron were chasing each other but Shego tuned them out, Kim keeping an ear tuned to her partner in case he needed her or had managed to disarm Drakken's machine. Though Kim imagined she'd hear Drakken's howling if that happened more than Ron's cheers.

The hero landed on all fours, getting to her feet quickly and readying her stance. Shego rushed and attempted to reach her before Kim could prepare, bringing her plasma forth and letting it flow around her fists, Kim sensed the heat and dodged quickly, leaning back and then to the side. Dropping to a knee, Kim tried for a few blows to the midsection, but Shego spun and avoided Kim's hands, dancing out of reach. They were nearing the control panel as they fought, so both Ron and Drakken moved away, clearing a path.

Shego crouched, bracing her hand against a side panel, ready to launch herself at the cheerleader, startling when a loud computerized voice made a sudden announcement that echoed throughout the lair.

"System disarmed."

"No!" howled Drakken.

"Wha… but…" Shego sputtered. "What the _hell_ was the disarm button doing _there_?"

"Looks like somebody saved the day," Kim teased in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up! It was an accident!" Shego snarled.

"I don't think so."

"Shut it, Possible!"

Kim chuckled, waving Ron over to her as Drakken fussed over his failed plot and complained to Shego about having ruined everything.

"Dr. D, this is why you need to keep me in the loop on your blueprints," she sighed, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on.


	2. Chapter 2

Kim struggled but realized nothing had changed in the past forty-five minutes - she was still stuck, shackled hand and foot to the wall, with her partner right beside her. Rufus lay nearby, breathing heavily, having tried his best to get through the restraints but without luck. He had tried chewing, tugging, prying, everything his little mole rat body was capable of… nothing worked. Nothing even helped. The metal clasps were strong and though he had scoured the dungeon, he hadn't found a button or lever that might release his humans.

Ron tried to comfort his pet with a weak smile. "It's okay, buddy, you tried. You did good." Turning his head, wincing at the pain in his shoulders from the pull of his weight against the joints for nearing an hour now, Ron addressed his best friend. "KP, I want you to know -"

"Stop it, Ron. I can do anything, remember?"

"Kim," he said, softly. Gently. With too much reality in his tone. "I want you to know that I don't regret anything. Every mission we've done has been for the greater good, I guess it had to catch up to us sometime. I just didn't expect it would be from catching Gemini's attention after helping Global Justice last month."

Kim growled and tried again, and again, her efforts were for naught. "I can't believe Gemini set us up." There had been a hit on the site, local, so Kim and Ron had walked the few blocks from the restaurant where they'd been having a celebratory Ron-accepted-to-college dinner. It sounded simple enough, just a missing dog. It brought back memories of one of Kim's first good deeds, rescuing Mrs. Mahoney's cat, and she and Ron chatted easily, and with some nostalgia, about early missions they'd completed.

When they turned the corner and rounded the block to their destination, a car parked on the side suddenly flipped on their headlights, blinding the teens momentarily. That was all the hesitation Gemini's henchmen needed, rushing the pair, quickly robbing them of their communication devices and covering their mouths and noses with a damp cloth. That was all either of them remembered until waking up in what appeared to be a dungeon, hanging from the wall, stripped of their socks, shoes, and their pockets completely emptied.

There was a small barred window but the only thing that told Kim was that it was still nighttime - it was about twenty feet up, much too high for Rufus to try escaping. She guessed there was a door of some sort, since they'd obviously been brought in somehow, but there was a wall that took up most of the area, leaving only about eight feet of a walkway at the far end, blocking her view of the entrance. Otherwise, nothing but solid grey stones and damp floor.

"I'm not going to give up, Ron. I'm not telling you my goodbyes. We're not done yet."

Ron nodded and accepted that this was Kim's stance, but didn't have to say that he couldn't quite believe they'd get out of this one. "I can't believe he took our Kimmunicators," Ron replied. "I know he's an evil genius and all, but it seems that most of our evil geniuses are kind of dumb about the whole strategy thing."

"Yeah, the strategy usually falls to us evil sidekicks," came a voice, and both prisoners whipped their heads toward the small window. Though it was pitch dark outside, a distinctive green glow was barely visible and Kim's heart leapt to her throat.

"Shego!" she hissed, not at all guilty about the relief that flooded her veins.

"Oh man, I have never been happier to see that plasma," Ron admitted, apparently having the same thoughts.

"Don't go all mushy on me, Stoppable," she warned quietly.

"How did you know where we were?" Kim asked as Shego focused her plasma into a beam and worked at clearing the bars from the window.

"Your nerdlinger called me when he lost the signals from your Kimmunicators and couldn't get them back on," she explained. "Apparently that meant they'd been destroyed and not just turned off. I didn't understand half the techno-babble he threw at me, but he managed to tell me where he'd lost the signal, which was about a mile from here. The henchmen didn't think to destroy the things until they were closer to base."

"But how'd you know we were here, and not taken somewhere else?"

Shego shrugged. "This was my first place to check. Nerdlinger thought it was Dementor; something about the voice analysis of the hit on your site? Anyway," she continued to work as she spoke, burning through the stone and iron, making a hole wide enough for her to fit through, "I knew the closest lair was Gemini's and figured I'd check here first."

Before the chunk of stone could fall, Shego grabbed a bar and instead pulled it toward her, setting it on the ground beside her. The dungeon where Ron and Kim were being kept was buried well underground so while the window was some twenty feet from the floor of the dungeon it was scarcely four feet from the ground outside. With just enough room to climb feet first through the hole, Shego held on briefly with her fingertips and then let go, landing in a crouch, trying to be as quiet as possible.

She motioned for Ron and Kim to also be silent. "There are four Greek-letter guards out there who are going to wake up with a major headache in about ten minutes," she whispered, "so let's make this quiet but fast." Kneeling down, she charged her plasma, not a beam but just a surge around her hands, heating and melting the metal around Kim's ankles. Kim hissed at the heat and Shego murmured an apology. "Close your eyes," she instructed, using one hand to work on the restraints holding Kim's wrists, keeping another cupped under the clasps, trying to stop any melted metal from landing on Kim.

Kim kept her eyes shut and when the restraints finally gave way, she fell the two feet to the ground, her legs collapsing as she was unable to hold her own weight. Shego wrapped an arm around her waist and caught her, lowering her gently to the floor so the redhead could get settled and recover feeling in her joints while Shego went to work on Ron's shackles.

"What's in this for you?" Ron asked, as the woman knelt beside him.

"If anyone gets to beat Kimmie, it's going to be me, and in a fair fight. I'm not going to let her rot in a dungeon and, by extension, that means you." Shego released the boy's ankles and then his wrists, lowering him gently to the floor as she had with Kim. Rufus clambered over to his human and snuffled him, concerned, but chattering in relief.

Kim was still on the ground, having trouble standing.

"Kimmie," Shego urged, "you're going to have to get up. I'm going to need you both to stand on my shoulders and then reach the window to pull yourselves up. I can push you if I have to, but you're still going to have to reach and climb through."

"I don't think I can," Kim admitted, "my ankle might support me but Shego, I can't lift my arms over my head. Not again."

Shego frowned, thinking furiously. They were running out of time. "Kim, do you trust me?" At Kim's nod, not even a trace of hesitation which surprised the villainess, Shego crouched near Kim and let the plasma flow brightly around her hands. Kim blinked at the light but didn't flinch. After a solid minute of that, Shego extinguished the flame, pulled off her gloves, and placed one hand firmly against each of Kim's shoulders. Kim inhaled sharply at the warmth that seeped into her aching muscles and overextended joints.

Counting thirty seconds in her head, Shego pulled her hands away. "Okay?" she asked, ducking her head to meet Kim's gaze. The girl opened her eyes slowly and tested her shoulders with a gentle roll. It wasn't a true fix but it should get her out of the dungeon.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Good, up you go." Hands on Kim's waist, Shego stood her up and walked over to the hole she'd created in the wall. Listening for a moment and not yet hearing movement outside, she knelt once more. "On my shoulders, brace your hands against the wall and when I stand, be ready to push off and grab the edge." Kim nodded that she understood and put one foot on Shego's shoulder, her ankle shaking but holding, placing her hands against the wall for support and then climbing completely on the woman's shoulders.

Shego warned her with a simple, "Standing," and then uncurled her legs, quadriceps flexing as she stood quickly, gritting her teeth when Kim pushed against her shoulders and leapt for the window. She let out a single cry of pain when she threw her arms over her head and grabbed the edge, hanging again, but Shego was quick to get her palms under the girl's bare feet and shove upwards, pushing her through the window, Kim scrambling to not hit her head when she was forced through.

"Your turn," she said, walking back to where Ron sat. "Need help with your shoulders? You're going to have to do the same thing."

Ron shook his head. "I think I can do it. I don't want to climb all over you though, can you just give me a step up?"

Shego nodded. "Sure," she reached down offered her arm to help him up, which he accepted quietly, Rufus secured and hanging on his cargo pocket. Half-stumbling, the boy was able to make it to the window on his own and positioned himself directly underneath. He knew Kim was on the other side, waiting for him.

"Ready," he said, and Shego went to one knee for leverage, clasping her hands together tightly to form a stirrup.

"I'm going to have to launch you so you can make the edge," she warned.

"Got it." Ron put a hand on the wall for balance, grimacing at the damp feel, and then put his right foot in Shego's hands - literally.

"Now." Shego stood just as quickly as she had with Kim, upper arms straining along with her quads this time as she continued the motion and pushed Ron towards the window. He caught it quickly and Kim instantly grabbed for his wrist, helping to haul him through.

Then the door burst open.

Shego turned at the sound, though she couldn't actually see the entryway. She snatched up her gloves and put them on, in case she had need of the sharp tips, and called forth more plasma. Sweat was beginning to drip down her face but she ignored it.

The space left in the dungeon for the walkway from the door didn't leave much room, meaning the henchmen that were coming through had to walk in single-file. Shego took advantage of that and fired her plasma as quickly as she could, hoping to down a few henchman and essentially block the area completely. The first man went down with a single blast, but the man behind him stepped over his comrade's form, getting a few feet closer before Shego managed to land a plasma ball to his chest.

Her shots were wide and she was tiring. Kim peered through the window, concerned. The henchmen were armed with heavy armor and even heavier weapons. The girl was disturbed to identify semi-automatic machine guns and the chips in the stones near Shego indicated they weren't shooting rubber bullets.

Finally, more worried than she'd ever let on by the number of henchmen she heard behind the others, not to mention the three she was able to see coming her way, Shego just released every barrier on her plasma, feeling the charge fill her entire body. The concentration was intense but she had just enough time to form it into a wide cone of energy, aiming it at the ceiling just above the wall that separated the dungeon from the entryway. The beam cut through the stone and Shego moved the plasma downward, forcing the rocks to crumble and cover the henchmen. They shouted but were unable to escape the falling stone, buried beneath the rubble. Debris and bodies blocked the entryway, giving the villainess a few minutes to breathe. Shego extinguished the plasma and pitched forward, sick and so very tired, the muffled groans coming from beneath the rocks reassuring her that at least she hadn't killed any of them.

"Shego!" Kim whispered fiercely. "Get up!"

Much too slowly for Kim's taste, Shego crawled to the wall with the window and used the stones to help her up. She was unsteady on her feet, clearly trembling.

"Jump," Kim urged, as Ron kept watch for the guards, "we'll pull you up."

"You're gonna get one chance at this," Shego breathed, shaking hands removing her gloves and stuffing them into the pouch at her ankle, "so make it count."

"Jump!" Kim repeated.

Unable to bunch her legs for a third time, Shego's stance was weak and she was more pushing off the balls of her feet rather than truly jumping. It was the extra strength from the comet, the same accident that had given her the plasma powers, which gave her just enough height on her first and only attempt. Her pale hand brushed past the window but it was all Kim needed, grabbing onto her wrist. When Shego tried to brace her other hand on the edge, she felt a larger hand grab at her forearm and she knew it was Ron. With a sigh, she just let them pull her through the opening, knowing the stones scraped at her front but unable to feel the pain over the pure exhaustion.

When she was through, she just laid on the ground for a moment, Kim and Ron sprawled out beside her, all three of them panting.

Groaning, she rolled over and stared at the stars. "We have to get out of here," she said. "Those guards could be waking up."

"Where do we go?" Kim asked.

"East. I don't know if nerdlinger knows where I went, but he only had about a mile radius if he made the connection with Gemini's lair." With a deep breath, Shego got to her hands and knees, then took another breath when the world spun without her. "Whoo," she exhaled, nauseated.

Kim grabbed her arm and hauled her up. With one arm slung over Kim's shoulders and Ron coming up on her other side to support her, the three walked slowly out of the compound, listening closely but only hearing their own troubled footsteps.

"You saved the day again, Shego," Kim whispered.

Shego gave a weak laugh. "As soon as we're healed, I'm kicking your ass."

"I look forward to it."

Just twenty yards from the fence line, which they crawled through the same spot Shego had cut when she snuck in, Kim heard the most wonderful sound in the world. The rotors of a helicopter, coming in for a landing based on the increasing volume and wind strength, and Wade's voice piped over a loudspeaker.

"Kim! Friendly helicopter," he assured her, "you're safe. The captain will take you to the hospital."

"Just drop me off at the nearest 7-11," Shego requested, but Kim gripped her around the waist tightly, brooking no argument as she forced her onboard.

"Why are you doing this?" Shego asked, as Kim strapped her in securely to her seat before fastening her own belt.

"Heroes always get taken care of," the redhead said, as if it was that simple.

Shego bit back a snarky reply and just let it happen. Maybe it was okay being a hero, if it meant she got to rest.

Just this once.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kim, it isn't ready!" Wade protested.

"So I'll have to go without it."

"You can't!"

"There's no time, Wade," Kim stated calmly, though she felt like crying. It wasn't Wade's fault the suit wasn't finished - he'd been up the past fifty-two hours straight trying to finish it. He'd done all he could. But there wasn't any time left, now.

"Kim," Wade tried again, "just give me two more hours. I can have it in your hands by then, I swear it."

"Glad to hear it." The redhead picked up her backpack and settled it onto her shoulders. "Make sure you get it to me at the lair."

"Two more hours."

"There's no time!" Kim snapped. "It's going to take me almost an hour just to get to Gemini's lair and that only gives me about another hour to get past the henchmen, find the device and disarm it. If I wait until you get me that apparatus, I won't even make it to the lair before it goes off."

Wade shook his head, but Kim didn't give him time to respond. "Ron's here," she said, hearing the pounding on the front door, "and we've got to go. Message me on the Kimmunicator if you have any updates."

Shego stretched and shifted her position in the chair as she flipped through a magazine. Technically, she was still on duty, but Dr. Drakken had mumbled something about needing to concentrate and wandered into his private office, leaving Shego to man - er, woman - the viewscreen and main communications array. Seeing as they almost never had any incoming calls, it meant it was time to kill a few hours by catching up on the latest celebrity gossip.

She had just started reading an article about the royal baby when the large monitor squelched a signal. Shego muffled a yelp and threw the magazine across the room, leaping to her feet when Kimmie's nerdlinger came into focus.

"How'd you get on this line?" she growled, feeling the urge to light a hand with plasma but remembering the threat would be meaningless. All she'd do was damage the machines in front of her, not the boy.

"Shego, I need you to take something to Kim."

"I am _not_ your delivery service, nerdlinger. Or Kim's."

"Shego, please. Kim's already at Gemini's secondary lair and she and Ron are making their way through the -"

"What is she doing at Gemini's?" Shego interrupted.

"Didn't you hear? He's got his deoxygenating device set to detonate in an hour."

"I heard rumors," she admitted, "but I didn't figure Gemini to be the type to go through with it."

Wade shook his head. "We got word about three days ago," he explained, and for the first time, Shego took a good long look at the boy, seeing the dark bags under his eyes and the weariness in his face. She doubted he'd slept since the notification. "Gemini said he had a machine that would remove all the oxygen from the atmosphere. I did some research and simulations and discovered it was entirely possible - the device is relatively fast acting, so it would probably remove the oxygen from the lair in about twenty seconds, and only about five minutes to actually reach its final size. It's designed to expand in a dome-like shape - so the lair gets hit first, but then it moves upward and outward, and by the time it does reach the stratosphere, which is about ten kilometers from the surface, it'll be almost twenty kilometers across."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It isn't," came the sigh. "Do you have any idea what would happen if we lost that much of our ozone layer that quickly? None of the results would be pretty. Not to mention the dome will act like a bubble, meaning all the oxygen will be removed from the affected areas - it will be uninhabitable by humans, plantlife will die. We've tried to convince the surrounding areas to evacuate but only a few of the towns have taken the warning seriously."

"So? Kim's doing the hero thing. She'll figure it out."

"She left before I could give her the suit and breathing apparatus she'll need in case it goes off before she can disarm it. There just," he rubbed at his eyes, frustrated, "there wasn't time. I need you to take it to her."

Shego shrugged. "Look, I already rescued the hero once. That's about as goodwill as I get for the year. Calendar year, mind you, just because it's February doesn't mean we're golden. Ask me again in eight months and I'll see what I can do."

Before Shego could press the button to end the call, Wade leaned closer to the camera and his eyes pinned her in place. "Please, Shego, if you've ever cared for Kim at all, you'll bring this to her. She needs this if she's going to make it through this mission alive!"

A pause. Shego moved her hand a few inches back from the disconnect button. If she ever cared for Kim? What was that supposed to mean? Green eyes narrowed. What was nerdlinger trying to get at? So, yeah, maybe the healthy respect she'd always felt for Kim's fighting abilities had begun to morph to something disturbingly close to affection, but how could the computer geek possibly know that? Did she give it away somehow?

_Chances are, he has no idea_, she reassured herself. He was probably just trying to appeal to her sense of humanity, hidden under the villainess exterior.

"What about Ron?"

Wade looked down momentarily, and when he glanced up again, the grief etched in every line of his face told Shego everything she needed to know.

"You only had enough time to make one of those things."

He nodded. "I'm hoping Kim can disarm it before it goes off. But if she can't, this will buy her a few more minutes, and… she's the one most likely to be able to do it." As much as it hurt him to acknowledge it, if he had to make only one suit, it would be for Kim. Ron was more than a sidekick and certainly more skilled than he let on, but even if the blond was asked directly, he'd agree that Kim had the best chance of saving the world. Wade felt sick at being unable to complete two devices, knowing what it meant for his friends.

Shego frowned. "Get it to me. I'll get it to Kim. Transmit her coordinates to this platform in five minutes," she said, providing the boy with a set of protocols before slamming her hand against the desk and ending the call. Even as the viewscreen faded to darkness, she sprinted across the lair to her room. She grabbed an electronic keypad from a drawer and punched a few buttons, then stepped into a green flightsuit, zipping it up and slipping the keypad into one of the many pockets.

Just three minutes after she had hung up with Wade, she was at the hangar where her Go Jet was finishing warming up, bringing systems online and preparing for flight. The hangar doors opened and she watched a small cargo palette drop from the sky, an even smaller parachute deploying to soften its fall. The words "To Shego" and "From Nerdlinger" were written clearly. Shego felt a smirk appear at the boy's choice of moniker and then tore the package open. Inside lay what appeared to be a mask and breathing tube with a tank, rather similar to a SCUBA setup, and an all black skin-tight suit, including a near-complete mask for the face. Shego guessed only Kim's eyes would remain uncovered once she got the suit on, though a pair of wrap-around sunglasses would snap onto the mask to protect her vision.

Shego grabbed the box and climbed into the jet, fastening her own helmet and breathing mask as she settled in the pilot's seat. She buckled the numerous belts and cinched them tightly, stowing the box in the cargo area behind her, grabbing the yoke just as Wade's voice came through the speakers in her headset, the boy's face coming into view on the monitor.

"Passing the coordinates through now," he said, and Shego nodded as the numbers came up on her display. She made sure they were input correctly and then made that her destination.

"Don't go anywhere," she warned the boy genius, steering the jet out of the hangar and to the runway, waiting until she had completed takeoff and reached an altitude where she could cruise at several Gs in relative safety before addressing Wade once more. The systems in the jet would continuously scan for established flight plans that would take other aircraft too near her own plane and adjust accordingly, but it also kept its sensors open to unexpected flying objects in her vicinity. The warning when something came in too close jarred her with its volume and she tried to simply fly high enough to avoid it altogether, finding it a much smoother and more pleasant flight.

"All right, give me the details," Shego demanded, concentrating on piloting the jet, not caring to glance over at the seven-inch viewscreen embedded in the cockpit.

"Three days ago, Gemini contacted the website and said he had armed a device to remove the oxygen from the atmosphere, setting it to go off at six o'clock tonight. He told us where he was keeping the machine and everything."

Shego raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What did he want in return for shutting it down?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"He said there wasn't anything that would make him shut it down. It was just a challenge. For Kim. He wanted her to try to disarm it. That's it."

"Ugh," Shego frowned, "and I thought _I_ had an unhealthy obsession with Kimmie."

Wade blinked.

Shego blinked. "You didn't hear that."

Wade fought an uneasy smile. "Hear what?"

"Good boy. Okay, so what's Gemini's deal? Why is Kim his focus?"

"The closest I can figure is he's trying to get Kim out of the way so she can't work with Global Justice any longer," he shrugged, "but it's just a guess."

"I suppose evil doesn't really need a reason."

"Also true," Wade admitted.

"Why aren't the Global Justice goons coming to the rescue?" Shego frowned as the words passed her lips, worried it might imply she herself was playing the rescuer. Again. Damn, this was becoming a problem.

"I contacted them this morning when it was clear I wouldn't have things ready before Kim had to leave, and Dr. Director said they were concerned but wouldn't be able to scramble a response in time. So it's up to Kim."

"What's the plan for the stuff in the box?"

Wade talked Shego through the intended use of the suit and gear he'd been working on for the past several days as Shego watched the destination grow closer. She had about another ten minutes, she figured, until it would be time to bail. Wade had given her a heads up that the satellite feed indicated the lair was located in a fairly isolated location that didn't provide room for the jet, but there was a field just a half-mile away that would work, so that was where Shego had programmed the jet to land. She'd bail out over the lair itself and parachute in, coming in from the north-facing side and hoping for a clear shot to the room with the device.

Shego double-checked the autopilot settings and nodded to herself. It was set.

"All right, bailing," she told Wade. "There's room for all three of us to take the jet back." She made sure the keypad for the aircraft was in the pocket of her flightsuit, secure. Either Kim would disarm the device and they'd make it back to the jet in the field, in which case Shego would need the keypad to allow them entrance, or it wouldn't matter. Based on the projections Wade had explained, there wouldn't be time for Shego to make it back to the jet before the affected area caught up with her.

"Be careful," Wade called, as she undid her safety belts and shrugged the parachute across her shoulders. She nodded, acknowledging his probably habitual warning, stuck the contents of the box into a cargo bag she could fasten to her belt and keep out of the way when she jumped, and pressed the button that lifted the glass canopy. She would have seven seconds to get clear before the top lowered and secured again. She could have blown it completely, but she remained hopeful that there would be a need for a ride back.

Shego leapt clear of the jet, pushing off the side and diving the give herself plenty of distance, feeling the wind billow as she fell, counting in her head until she reached thirty, then pulling her chute and gritting her teeth at the forceful tug on the harness as it deployed. Blinking behind her goggles, she grabbed the handles and began to aim her descent to the north.

Kim panted as she disposed of the henchman, tossing him over her head and springing to her feet, but he hit the wall and collapsed, making no move at getting up. Green eyes darted around but Kim relaxed a moment when she didn't notice any more of Gemini's lackeys in sight.

"Ron, you okay?"

The blond nodded. He'd been sort of hiding behind Kim for the past six henchmen, but only because his left ankle had rolled and he quickly realized he was unable to put any weight on the joint. "I'm good," he assured her, "just go check out the machine that's beeping ominously over there."

"Ominously?"

Ron grinned. "Studying for the SAT," he shrugged.

"Very nice. Give a shout if you see anyone coming this way."

"I've got your back, KP."

Knowing that to be true, Kim approached the machinery, giving it a wide berth at first, cautious of any traps or hidden mechanisms. When she didn't detect anything, she moved in closer and grimaced at the digital readout. The numbers indicated she had less than ten minutes to shut it down. It had taken her far longer to get through the henchmen than she'd expected. Though Gemini had only left two dozen of them, probably because he counted on Kim's failure and didn't want to sacrifice too many of his men, they were well armored and equipped with net launchers and stun guns. Gemini clearly wanted to delay Kim, not stop her altogether, and that knowledge disturbed the redhead immensely.

_When I'm done here, she told herself_, and she couldn't afford to imagine not succeeding,_ I'm going to figure out what's causing Gemini's weird obsession with me._

The machine was complex with plenty of dials, buttons, and levers, but Kim didn't see anything that looked like an obvious off switch. There was a plug, of course, giving it electricity, but it had been covered in a thick metal casing which had been secured to the wall with eight heavy-duty screws. Kim imagined she could get through the case in time and pull the plug but she was treating the device like a bomb. Killing the power in that fashion might cause an explosion or the device might go off early, removing the oxygen all the way to the stratosphere.

That was unacceptable.

Wary of simply pushing everything, even though that was Ron's shouted advice, Kim felt sweat forming on her brow as she examined the control panel.

"How much time?" came a voice, and Kim jumped.

"Shego?"

The woman held a medium-sized duffle bag in her hand and tossed it to Kim as she walked in. "Wade wanted me to drop this off," she said, as Kim caught it easily. She glanced down at where Ron sat just a few feet away. "What's wrong with you?"

"Ankle," he grimaced, somewhat embarrassed.

"How much time?" she repeated, turning her attention back to Kim.

"Just over five minutes."

Shego nodded. "Better hurry and put that on, then." She gave Kim a quick rundown, summarizing what Wade had told her about the equipment. Kim dumped everything out of the bag and started pulling the suit on even as Shego spoke. "Can you walk on it?" Back to Ron.

"Nope."

"Figures." Deciding that it would take too long if she let Ron lean on her for support and hop along, Shego grabbed the boy's left wrist and hoisted him to a standing position, pulling his arm across her shoulders and bending to slip her other arm under his left leg, standing slowly but without trouble. She shifted him slightly, settling his weight across her shoulders in the fireman's carry. "Don't fidget," she warned him, and then curled her lip when Rufus poked his head out of Ron's cargo pocket and chattered at her. "Bite me and I'll drop both of you." Rufus burrowed back in Ron's pocket and quieted.

"Kim," she said, turning her back on the redhead and beginning to walk out the same way she came in, "disarm that thing."

"I will," were Kim's last words as she fitted the breathing mask over her face and fastened the protective goggles into the helmet.

Ron tried to time his breathing with Shego's steps, hoping he wasn't throwing her balance off too badly, though she seemed to be walking fairly easily, albeit a little slower. "You know," he said, "this is the second time you've saved my life."

"Don't remind me."

Outside the lair, Shego eyed the path that would take them down the hill and towards the field. It wasn't too step, but with the extra weight of Kim's buffoon on her shoulders, she would have to take it a little slower and be very careful not to slip. Slower wasn't really the best option, but it was the only one she had.

"Why?"

"I have no idea."

"Seriously."

Shego cocked an ear as the beeping from the lair grew louder. And faster. That probably wasn't a good sign. Well, if she was going to die, it didn't really matter what she told the boy, did it? He'd never live to tell anyone. Literally. And she wouldn't have to be embarrassed very long.

"Because I don't want to see Kim die."

Ron blinked, surprised by what he sensed was honesty. "Why not? You guys are enemies."

"True," Shego admitted, "but sometimes I think we'd make pretty good friends."

"You want to be friends with Kim?"

"Or more. You know, whatever." Shego frowned at the words coming out of her mouth and blamed them on the rare near-death fear that was settling into her bones.

Ron gaped, unsure what to say to that. Finally, when Shego had maneuvered them around a curve, he asked, "Like, girlfriends?"

"It's not gonna matter in about three minutes."

"This is too weird."

Shego growled. "If we make it through this, buffoon, you can think it's weird all you want, but so help me, if you say a word to Kim, I'll plasma your face."

"No, you and Kim dating isn't weird. Well, it is, kinda, but that isn't what I meant. Talking about Kim maybe failing, that's weird."

"Yeah. Now would be a great time for her to come through."

Shego paused and they both turned to look up towards the lair as the beeping intensified to a single loud tone that lasted ten seconds, and then silence. The villainess moved down the path once more, but only made it a dozen steps before the lack of oxygen became apparent. She took a deep breath and tried to continue for as long as she could. She felt Ron go slack against her shoulders and she hunched forward to try to compensate, grunting at the effort, feeling her lungs burn with the desire to breathe.

Twenty seconds later, there was no oxygen at all when Shego tried to inhale, and she collapsed forward, striking her head against a rock, Ron rolling off her shoulders.

Kim felt the pressure change as the machine kicked in, pulling the oxygen from her surroundings, expanding quicker than she expected. She managed to continue breathing thanks to Wade's tank and knew that the suit she'd donned would give her a few minutes of protection from the sun's UV rays once the ozone layer was destroyed by the machine, but the girl was painfully aware that Shego, Ron, and hundreds of civilians had no such protection.

If Kim didn't turn the device off, they would all die.

If Kim took too long to turn the device off, many of them would die and the lack of oxygen would probably cause brain damage for others.

Her heartbeat and breathing began to increase and Kim consciously slowed them both, trying to keep from hyperventilating and using up more of the oxygen in the tank.

_Okay, Kim_, she sighed, _you can do this. You can. Think. What's in front of you? What do you have to work with?_

_A whole bunch of buttons and switches that don't make any sense_, was the report she came back with, frustrated. _Except_...

The number keys were the only items labeled on the machine. Kim figured that might mean they were important.

But now, what could the code be? She hurried through a first attempt, 1234, and an LED at the top of the number pad flashed red, twice. Kim grinned. That was a response. Clearly incorrect, but still, a response nonetheless. Which meant the keypad did indeed serve as an input.

She tried 12345 next, but the light flashed again as she pressed the 4, so that indicated it was a string of four numbers. At least it wasn't seven- or eight-digits.

So now it was a matter of finding the correct four-digit code.

Kim frowned. She didn't have time to just mash numbers and hope for the best. There had to be a logical choice, something that made sense for Gemini to have chosen.

Wondering if he was mocking her, she tried her birthday. The month and day combination would be four digits.

Red light.

She tried the four-digit year of her birth.

Red light.

She called up Betty Director's birthday, and thus her twin brother Sheldon's, dragging it up from the depths of her memory.

Red light.

She wasn't sure the year the Directors were born, so that wasn't an option.

What else could it be?

One minute had passed since the machine activated.

Kim took a slow, deep breath, searching her memory banks for anything she knew about Gemini.

He was in to the whole Greek letter thing, that was obvious. But there were no letters on the keypad, it wasn't a full keyboard. Just numbers.

Something niggled at the back of her brain.

Something about Greek letters.

And numbers.

Wait. Weren't the Greek numbers actually expressed as letters? Which meant that it might be a four-letter word or something, converted to the numerals? That might be the code?

Kim scrambled for the lesson, but everything was fuzzy. She knew letters were used for numbers, but she had no idea which letters corresponded to which numbers.

What was a four-letter word that might have meaning for Gemini?

Even if she had an idea, it was useless, unless she could convert it to a number.

She reached down for the Kimmunicator, which she'd set on the floor after she'd donned the suit, and pressed the button, hoping it would work even without oxygen, that the components wouldn't malfunction.

The image was blurry but she could hear Wade's voice.

Taking a breath, she unclasped the mask and half-shouted, "Wade, Greek numbers are represented as letters. What is Pepe?" and then immediately refastened the mask, gasping as the oxygen flowed once more.

Wade typed furiously, eyes wide, well aware of the urgency. "8585," he said, not bothering to give any details.

Kim punched in the code.

Green light.

Three minutes had passed.

Kim hurried out of the lair in the direction she'd last seen Shego and her partner. In the ten seconds after the machine had deactivated, the de-oxygenated "bubble" that had formed, and was growing, collapsed almost instantly. With the ozone safe, Kim tore off the goggles so she could see more clearly. She kept the tank and mask, glancing at the tank to see it was still half full.

Good.

"Ron? Shego?" she shouted, finding the path that the footsteps indicated Shego must have taken. There was only one set so she apparently carried Ron the whole way.

Around a curve and then, there, at a small plateau, she saw them.

Shego was sprawled face-down, arms outstretched. Ron was about six feet in front of her, on his back, eyes closed.

Neither were moving.

"No, no, no. No you don't," Kim muttered, sprinting to Ron's side. She knelt beside him, found a pulse, and tugged on his shoulder until she had rolled him to face her. She called his name loudly and then slapped his face. Three times.

The boy groggily pried his eyes open, cut off in mid-groan as Kim shoved the mask over his face, the mouthpiece forcing its way in.

"Breathe," she told him gently.

His eyes cleared as he gulped the oxygen, nodding that he recognized her and while maybe not completely aware of what was happening, knew enough to keep breathing through the apparatus.

Kim turned to Shego. Her heart lodged in her throat. The redhead crawled across the ground, whimpering when she noticed the blood that had mixed with the dirt. She rolled the woman on to her back, brushing dark hair away from her face, wincing at the matted section and gash on her forehead.

_Head wounds almost always bleed much worse than they actually are_, she heard her mother's voice. _Apply pressure, after you've established an airway._

Her hands shook as she felt for a pulse against Shego's neck, searching for the carotid artery under her jaw.

Nothing.

Kim brought her hand back, flexed her fingers, tried to quell the nausea that had suddenly swarmed to her throat, and tried again. The beat fluttered against the pads of her index and middle fingers.

Kim swallowed. Tilting Shego's head back and her chin up, she leaned forward, placing her ear almost directly against the woman's mouth, hoping for the feel of breath against her cheek, or the rattle of a soft inhalation, or the movement of the woman's chest under her flightsuit.

Nothing.

Still.

Without hesitating another moment, Kim covered Shego's lips with her own, breathing for her, once, twice, three times. Then she repeated the check for signs of Shego breathing under her own power. No good. Kim breathed for her again, three more tries.

Ron sat up slowly, eyes wide as he watched Kim perform emergency breathing for the woman that had carried him out of the lair. He kept the mask but was only using it for an occasional breath, his blood carrying the oxygen to the cells which had been, even for a short time, starved. He had been beyond dizzy and had a killer headache when he came to, startled to find Kim basically nose-to-nose with him, but the oxygen from the tank quickly settled the pain, and he felt much better after a brisk rub of Rufus' chest brought the mole rat around.

Kim was still breathing for Shego and he was tempted to offer the mask, but didn't want to disturb her.

Shego twitched a finger and Ron heard the noisy gasp when she came to awareness. Kim had been in the middle of another breath and she pulled back with a sob, not even caring or perhaps not realizing that there were tears tumbling down her cheeks.

Shego blinked, her head throbbing painfully, but her vision was clear enough to see Kim's worried green eyes just inches away. "Princess, if you wanted to kiss me, you didn't have to knock me over the head."

Kim didn't even attempt a smile. She just put her forehead against Shego's shoulder and cried, reaching out blindly with one hand until Ron grasped it and she tugged him closer, refusing to let either of them go.


	4. Chapter 4

Shego prowled around the lair, pacing, deep in thought.

"Shego," Drakken called, "what are you doing up so late?"

"It's two in the morning, I'm up early."

Drakken blinked at her, night robe tucked tightly around his body. "Are you going somewhere?" he asked, noticing she was dressed in her normal catsuit.

"Why are you up?" she countered.

"I can't sleep. I'm going to make some cocoa moo. Would you like some?"

"Why not. Thanks, Dr. D."

Drakken paused. He'd been genuine in his offer, but hadn't really expected Shego to accept. Something was bothering his favorite sidekick. Well, his only sidekick. But that didn't necessarily exclude her from being his favorite, did it? Of course not. And as her employer, and maybe sometimes a friend, he felt obligated to help her through whatever was going on.

"Okay," he said brightly, toddling off to the main kitchen to make two mugs of the chocolatey drink. "I'll be right back."

Shego waved him off with a sigh. Cocoa moo wouldn't solve her problem, but it couldn't hurt.

When the blue-skinned scientist returned, he handed Shego one cup of the cocoa moo and then sat down in a wheeled chair, scooting it forward with the heels of his feet along the floor as he came to a stop near Shego. "So what's the problem, Shego?"

Shego took a long drink from the mug. It wasn't bad, really, in moderation. But Drakken liked to drink it at every occasion and kept trying to force it on her, long after she'd grown tired of the taste. "I just can't figure it out."

"What? Maybe I can help."

The man looked almost childish, with his little hands wrapped around the mug as he stared up at her, and her initial reaction was that the man was useless. But then she recalled that sometimes, just sometimes, he had a halfway-decent idea and much like the drink, filling him in probably couldn't hurt. If he decided to be stupid, she could always throw some plasma around, and one way or the other, she'd end up feeling better.

"Okay, here's the thing," she said, and explained how Gemini had kidnapped Kim and then forced her into a near-death situation by forcing her to deactivate a dangerous machine. "I just don't get what his angle is. But I don't think he's done."

Drakken took a moment. "Wait a second, back up. You almost died?"

"Well, yeah, but Kimmie…"

"Gemini almost killed you?"

"I doubt he was expecting me to be there, and technically he was trying to kill Kimmie and about four thousand other people, but…"

The man leapt to his feet, chair rolling backwards, cocoa moo sloshing over the edge of the mug. "My sidekick! Gemini almost killed my sidekick! How dare he?" Drakken growled angrily.

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, Dr. D. I didn't expect you to… care."

Drakken slammed the mug on the nearest control panel. "Well, I _do_ care and this will not stand!" He crossed his arms across his chest, fuming. "How do we get him?"

Shego held her hands out. "Dr. D, look, I'm kind of touched that you're angry, okay, and I agree Gemini needs to pay, but I don't really think…"

"No, Shego," Drakken interrupted, rolling his neck to crack and settle a few vertebrae into place. "This is personal. I'm going to change." Hands clenched into fists, Drakken stalked across the lair to his bedroom and slammed the door.

"Personal?" Shego repeated, blinking in surprise at Drakken's behavior. "Hmph." She wasn't sure what she expected the man to do, but he was clearly upset by her near-death experience and felt he had to retaliate. _Eh, it can't hurt to let him feel like he's helping,_ she decided, _maybe it will keep him distracted enough and he won't even wonder what I was doing saving Kimmie_. Avoiding _that_ particular conversation was high on Shego's list.

"Okay," Drakken announced, coming back to the control panel, wearing his normal outfit, though he had left the top button of his labcoat undone, "let's get plotting."

It took an hour of brainstorming, during which Shego was forced to admit that Dr. Drakken tossed around some interesting ideas, but the two finally settled on a plan. Shego would monitor the EvilNet for activity regarding Gemini and then cross-reference Kim's website for hits and try to intercept Gemini before he could launch his next attack. Dr. Drakken would then send an 'anonymous' tip to Global Justice, directly to Gemini's sister, the Director, with information on where to find the man.

Shego wasn't holding her breath on the worldwide organization being able to hold Gemini for long, but maybe it would be enough for him to cool off and rethink his priorities.

Kim wordlessly apologized to her professor as she ducked out of class, holding the Kimmunicator with both hands, trying to block the speaker and mute the chime, which had sounded just as the instructor was beginning his lecture. Once out in the hallway, she pressed the button and accepted the call.

"What's up, Wade?"

"How's class?"

"It isn't, at the moment," she said, raising an eyebrow, "because I came out here to talk to you. So, what's the sitch?" Wade knew her class schedule, which meant he was stalling. Which never meant anything good.

Wade hesitated slightly. He knew the events of the last mission with Gemini, though nearly three weeks ago now, still plagued his friend and he was reluctant to get her involved again. But who else was there? He couldn't exactly send Ron on his own, either.

"We got a hit on the site."

"And? Details, Wade."

"It's Gemini."

Kim tried to maintain her composure but she was sure at least a flinch came through. "Okay."

"Do you still want to…"

"Wade, it doesn't matter if I want to, does it? I have to. What is it this time?"

"Gemini is claiming to have the codes to a top secret missile, which he will aim at Australia and fire in twelve hours."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you -"

The chime of the Kimmunicator sounded and Kim frowned, habitually pressing the button even though she had Wade on screen.

"Kim, it's a trap," Shego said, getting the words out even before her face blinked into view.

"What are you talking about?"

"Gemini's hit on the site, he's just trying to lure you into a trap."

"How do you know about that?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "I've been watching for his next move," she clearly had no desire to waste time explaining, "and when you got this latest hit, I referenced it against what I'd been reading on the EvilNet."

"There really is an EvilNet?"

"Focus, Kim."

"Right. So, what should I do?"

Her mouth opened and then snapped shut. "You… believe me? Just like that?"

"Of course I do," Kim smiled. "And you seem to know what's going on, so what do you suggest?"

"With the threat to an entire continent, Global Justice should take the tip seriously and capture Gemini before he can launch the missile. I'm sure Betty's got plenty of procedures in place just to deal with her brother. You just stay put."

The redhead nodded. Now that the initial near-panic at having to face Gemini again was fading, she realized it made sense for Gemini's sister to be the one to intercede and take him down, especially if he was going as large-scale as Australia. Twelve hours would be enough time for some counter-measures to be implemented, if she remembered correctly from the couple of times she'd been consulted by the organization. "Sure, I've got a lecture to get back to, anyhow. I'll check back in after my last class today and you can tell me what happened."

"Ah, okay." Shego wasn't entirely sure why Kim was trusting her so completely, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Shego disconnected the call and Wade returned to the screen.

"Hey!" he protested. "What was that all about?"

"The Gemini thing is a trap, Wade. You can tip off GJ - Doctor Director will have a few protocols in place specifically for her brother."

"Uh, but… how do you know it's a trap?"

"Shego told me."

Wade gaped. "And you believe her? Just like that?"

Kim frowned. "Wade, are you forgetting that Shego has saved my life, and Ron's, twice now? That she risked her own life to do it?"

"Well, I know, but…"

Kim waved her hand. She didn't have time to explain to Wade the complicated emotions she'd been feeling which seemed to match the complicated relationship she and Shego were developing. How could she tell him, when she wasn't sure of it herself? "I've got to get back to class, Wade. Thanks for the call though, okay? Just let GJ know what's up. I'll talk to you later."

Kim waited until she was back to her apartment to call Shego, using a reverse-call feature to find Shego's communication protocols. The main lair came into view and Kim smothered a grin as Shego shooed Drakken out of frame.

"Hey, Princess," she greeted, reclining in the chair.

"So how'd it go?"

Shego grinned. "Sheldon Director is now in the custody of Global Justice," came the report.

"Spankin'. You know, I would have gone and tried to disarm the missile or take the code or something, if you hadn't told me. I would have walked right into his trap. And, well, given his escalation in plots lately, it probably wouldn't have ended very well."

"Yeah," Shego had to agree, clenching her fists, "no kidding."

"Thank you."

Shego blinked. "For what?"

"For saving me. Again."

"Uh, but I just…"

Drakken ran across the lair, shouting, "You saved Kim Possible!" and dodging the plasma blast Shego hurled his way.

Kim laughed at Shego's growl. "Well, good night. And thanks."

"Uh, yeah. Good night, Kimmie."


	5. Chapter 5

It was late, past midnight, but it was well into spring and the night was warm. Shego had tried kidding herself for the past hour, convincing herself that she wasn't really wandering around Middleton just to check up on a certain redhead, but she'd been "stretching her legs" around the same three blocks for a long while now, too long to be wandering and turning to stalling.

Maybe stalking?

Shego huffed a sigh. She was making laps around Kim's apartment building. The fact that she knew where it was, was bad enough, but that she knew which floor and which window belonged to the hero? Ugh. That was worse still.

At least it was late enough that her circuits weren't drawing attention. She was wearing dark jeans and a lime green v-neck shirt, so it wasn't as though her dress would be out of place, but a nosy neighbor might decide to call the police if she turned the corner for a fourth time, so she came to a stop underneath Kim's window. Three floors up, the girl was - _well, she's probably sleeping, doy. It _is_ one in the morning_, Shego grumbled to herself.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to just check on her, right? Make sure no other crazy villain was trying to get their paws on her, a la one still-imprisoned Gemini?

Right.

With a running start, Shego pushed off with her right foot, using the side of the building for leverage and bouncing off two window ledges until she reached Kim's. She crouched quietly and removed the screen, lifting the window, slowly until she was sure there was no alarm, and then raising it completely. The window was into the living room and Shego allowed her eyes time to adjust to the dark, taking in the shapes of a sofa and an entertainment cabinet.

Then a shout and a crash from down the hall.

Shego leapt inside, rolling as she hit the floor, coming to her feet and hurrying towards the sound. The yell had come from what Shego assumed was Kim's bedroom - she was instantly aware that Kim had taken the bedroom without a window facing the street. The girl wanted a bit more security.

Green flared as Shego let the plasma grow in her hands, prepared for whoever or whatever might be attacking Kim.

The girl was trapped, that much was clear. Her legs were entangled in the sheets and one hand was shoved inside a pillowcase, Kim apparently caught in an intense dream.

Shego took a second to breathe and doused the flames, pulling off her gloves and deciding it was time to wake Kim from this nightmare, now that her heart had stopped pounding.

"Kimmie?" The girl murmured but didn't wake. "Hey, princess," Shego tried again, softly.

Kim flung an arm out. Shego ducked, but saw what must have caused the crash she'd heard a minute before - the lamp had been knocked off the bedside table, probably by Kim's first attack. Or was it defense? Shego frowned, wondering what was plaguing the redhead's sleep.

Kim's brow creased and she fidgeted as the blankets tightened their hold.

A whimper.

Shego decided that was enough. Carefully, she reached out and put a hand on Kim's shoulder. Kim shuddered and grabbed Shego's wrist, preparing for a fight, crying out when she realized her legs were caught.

"Easy, Kim." Shego caught Kim's other hand as she tried for a left hook. "You're okay."

Kim struggled once but then blinked, eyes opening slowly, beginning to focus. "Sh… Shego?"

"Hey there. You with me?" When Kim nodded, Shego released her hold. "That must have been some nightmare."

Kim threaded her fingers through Shego's and kept a tight hold on the woman's hand, to which Shego raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't object. "You're okay."

Understanding dawned and Shego gently squeezed the hand Kim had claimed. "I'm okay. I'm sure the buffoon is fine, too."

Kim shook her head. "It's never Ron," she said, "only you." Her hands shook and she took a slow, deep breath, reminding herself that the woman was right in front of her. She was touching her, hearing her breathe. "Ron gets the mask and he's okay, but you… I can't…"

Shego frowned. "No, you can. And you did. I'm right here. You saved me."

At that, Kim gave a small smile. "I still owe you, though."

"No," Shego disagreed, "you don't."

Silence fell, as Kim digested that, wondering what it might mean that Shego didn't plan on calling in favors for having saved her on at least two separate occasions. Then, she asked, "Did Wade send you to check up on me?"

After a moment, Shego admitted, "No. I came here on my own."

Kim's smile grew. "I'm glad." She slid over to the opposite side of the bed, tugging on Shego's hand until the woman laid beside her. "Will you…?"

"I'm not going anywhere, princess. Go back to sleep."

"I can, now." Kim closed her eyes, content with the knowledge that even if she fell into the same nightmare, the moment she woke she would know it wasn't true. The woman she so feared she'd lost was literally within her reach. There would be time in the morning, after Kim finally managed to rest, to discuss where they stood on the whole "friends" or "enemies" thing.

But, for now, Kim slept.


End file.
